Game notes vs. DePaul

Live Stats

Follow UDM Athletics on Twitter

The Detroit Titans men's basketball team will put its four game winning streak on the line on Saturday as UDM visits DePaul in a showdown of old Catholic Universities. The match-up is scheduled for 2 p.m. (EST), at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL.

Live stats of the event can be viewed by clicking on the link on the UDM website as well as an audio feed through DePaul's radio outlet with a paid subscription.

Detroit (4-1) is coming off a stellar weekend where the Titans won all three games by double digits in the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer Albany subregional. Sophomore Eli Holman was named the tournament's MVP after averaging 16.6 ppg., and 12.3 rpg. He currently leads the Horizon League in rebounding (11.2) and blocks (2.2) and is second in field-goal percentage (62%) and sixth in scoring (13.2).

DePaul is 3-1 on the year starting the season with a home victory over Columbia (59-53), and a third-place finish at the Paradise Jam Tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the Blue Demons defeated Northern Iowa(60-52) and St. Joseph's (58-51). DePaul's lone setback came at the hands of No. 10 Tennessee, 57-53.

The team is averaging 57.5 points per game, but is holding opponents to just 53.2 points and 37% shooting. Will Walker leads the squad in scoring at 15.8 ppg., while Mac Koshwal, who has missed the last two games with an injured left foot, tops the team in rebounding (13.0) and is second in scoring (15.0).

TITANS OFF TO A FAST START
Detroit has won four straight for the first time since the end of the 2004-05 season and is off to its best start since going 4-1 to begin the 2001-02 campaign. 

A win over DePaul would give UDM a five-game winning streak, its longest since winning 10-straight in 2003. 

The potential 5-1 record would also give the Titans their best six-game start since going 5-1 to begin the 1998-99 campaign, a season where the Titans ended 25-6 with a win over UCLA in the NCAA Tournament.

ELI NETS HORIZON LEAGUE & MVP HONORS
Eli Holman has had a fantastic start to his UDM career. The sophomore has scored in double figures in all five games so far, with three double-doubles, and was named MVP of the 2K Sports Albany subregional after averaging 16.6 ppg., 12.3 rpg, and 2.0 bpg., in leading Detroit to three wins in three days. 

Over the weekend, he had back-to-back double-doubles with a career-high 20 points and 14 rebounds against Albany and then tallied 16 points and a personal-best 15 boards versus Alcorn State.
Those performances led him to be named the Horizon League Player of the Week, announced the conference office on Nov. 23. 

Through five games, Holman tops the team in scoring (16.2), rebounding (11.2), field-goal percentage (62%) and blocks (11).

KEELING TABBED ALL-TOURNAMENT
Junior Xavier Keeling joined sophomore Eli Holman on the 2K Sports Classic Albany subregional All-Tournament team. Keeling posted 17 ppg., and 4.0 rpg., while coming away with seven steals. He was a force all weekend long in the post, shooting 56% from the field (13-of-23) and was 24-of-29 (82%) from the free throw line

DETROIT VS DEPAUL
This will be the 37th meeting between the two Catholic Universities. DePaul owns the overall series 26-10, with the Blue Demons winning three in a row and 11 of the last 12 games, including last year's 71-62 contest in Chicago. 

UDM's last victory in the series was in 1994, when Detroit took a 86-80 home decision. 

Detroit is 2-12 all-time in the Windy City against DePaul, with its last win in 1938, a 38-36 overtime triumph.

AGAINST THE BIG EAST
Detroit has not fared well against the BIG EAST conference. The Titans are 63-161 against current teams from the conference, but they do have a pair of post-season wins with a 67-61 victory over Connecticut in Gampel Pavilion in the 2001 NIT and a 66-64 triumph over St. John's in the 1998 NCAA Tournament.

TITAN DEFENSE TURNING ON THE PRESSURE
Much of the accolades from the Titans winning three games in three days at the 2K Sports Albany subregional focused on Eli Holman and Xavier Keeling scoring, but UDM's defense was also in full force notching 20+ turnovers in all three games, while holding its opponents to 37% shooting from the field.